Caustic, tender, and alive to the intricacies of grief.
A girl who sees death coming has spent her life looking away.
Jewish high school senior Sydney Hoffman has a grim, unwanted ability and three rules to manage it: “Don’t tell anyone. Don’t witness a Zero Hour. Don’t get involved.” Since age 5, when she saw “pink and floaty numbers” over her grandmother Bubbe’s head, Sydney has seen countdown clocks flickering above people who are within 72 hours of dying. It’s a gift she inherited alongside the grief of losing Bubbe, and she’s managed it through careful detachment. Her coping system holds steady until she attends a house party where classmate Liam Johnson’s clock indicates his imminent death. A distraught Sydney goes outside for fresh air and meets bookish white transfer student Peter Beckett. When a clock blinks to life over the head of their English teacher, then another over a stranger on a city street, Peter witnesses Sydney’s reactions, and she divulges her secret. His quiet insistence on being present for those who will soon die, not attempting to save them but simply letting them know they’re seen, dismantles the rules Sydney has spent years hiding behind. Schramm’s debut examines the cost of loving even with the knowledge of inevitable loss. The romantic throughline is resolved a beat too quickly for the emotional weight the story builds, but Sydney’s voice is sardonic without undercutting the underlying grief, and Peter earns his place as a foil.
Caustic, tender, and alive to the intricacies of grief. (Speculative romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781368116077
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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